0510-18 NY Times Crossword Answers 10 May 2018, Thursday

26 thoughts on “0510-18 NY Times Crossword Answers 10 May 2018, Thursday”

1. 12:09, no errors. A merciful Thursday puzzle. Thank you, Ms. Reid … ?

2. 17:05 Had a little trouble figuring out the theme. I thought something funny was going on and realized what it was at KNOCKEM.

3. Newbie here…23:42. Merciful for a Thursday. Q: Are most of you folks puzzle subscribers or full paper subscribers? Any opinions on the digital crossword versus the analog/hard copy version of the crossword?

4. Duncan- I have a digital subscription to the Times but that doesn’t get me the crossword so I also have the digital subscription for the puzzle. It took a little bit of time for me to get used to solving digitally rather than on paper but I like it. I think the app is very good easy to use.

5. 24:40. Like Marc, I didn’t get the them until the very end. I did think it was cleverly done, however. Otherwise a relatively straightforward Thursday gimmick.

   Duncan – I just subscribe to the online puzzle. I think it costs $40/year which amounts to roughly 11 cents per day. That’s about as good an entertainment value as you’ll see anywhere. Once you get used to doing it online, it’s easier to do than on paper – especially if you do a lot of writeovers.

   Best –

6. 16:31, no errors. A couple of bouts of cranial flatulence slowed me down; such as entering DR. HYDE in 13D before MR. HYDE; TIMBER in 4D before TIMBRE.

7. I’ve asked this before and didn’t get a straight answer. What are Bill’s tools for solving? A dictionary or almanac or Google or ? Or nothing at all? Does Bill solve online where you get a bleep if you err? Let’s level the playing field!

8. I’ve asked this before and didn’t get a straight answer. What tools does Bill use for solving? A dictionary or almanac or Google or ? Or nothing at all? Does Bill solve online where you get a beep if you err? Let’s level the playing field!

   1. Ken and Ken –
      Bill has answered this question in the past. He does them online, but he uses no resources at all other than what’s between his ears. He also shuts off any red letters (that would show an incorrect entry) or any congratulatory alerts (that would show the puzzle is successfully complete). He finishes the puzzle, he glances over it to be sure it’s how he wants it, then he hits a reveal button which tells him where any errors are or if he has completed it successfully. That’s how he gets his time and lists the number of errors he had – counting one square as 2 errors as he would have missed two words to miss the square.

      That’s about as level a playing field as it gets.

      Best –

   2. @Ken … Jeff’s answer is pretty complete, but you should also check out Bill’s FAQ, where he answers your question and others. Start by clicking on the little three-line symbol in the upper right corner (all the way at the top of this page) and then on the word “FAQ”.

9. This was a good one. Thoroughly enjoyable, clever, and well done. I do the syndicated puzzle on paper.

10. No errors. Thursday puzzles have been my “challenge-level” for a long time. I keep knocking them out consistently now so I am considering maybe moving on to trying some Friday puzzles once in a while.

    Duncan—-I am an old-fashioned paper and pen solver. I don’t even time myself. I like things just the way they are and have no interest in going digital.

    1. How long have you been doing Thursday puzzles?

11. 11:59, 2 errors at the ICA(M)E/MU(R)AL crossing. The clues just didn’t resonate, so I simply filled in the wrong letter.

    But, I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed this puzzle. I loved the theme, and its application… which helps solve the puzzle, not just “sitting there looking cute and doing nothing”. Clues that made me smile when I “got the answer”. Well, done, Ms. Reid!!!! Take a bow!

    As for my solving method: paper, printed from the computer on four days, as my local paper is “half-digital” now. I have only tried online puzzles a time or two, and just did NOT like them. I couldn’t get used to clicking squares, issuing a command for which direction to enter in, and then entering. Always seems to me I can fill in a paper square (in pen) much faster. Also, the other digital boons (hints that something is wrong) rub me the wrong way. Call me a purist, or a dilettante, or whatever, I just like my puzzles done the traditional way: on paper, in pen, no aids whatsoever, and timed, to keep track of one’s progress and development! Basta!! 🙂

    1. @Allen … You still seem not to understand that the one and only “digital boon” in the NYT crossword app that you can’t get rid of (the “almost there” message that you get if you accidentally fill in the last square before you’re ready to declare yourself done) is only a “boon” in the way that you mean if you choose to make it so. But … I will never, ever, be able to convince you of that, so, as you say … basta!

12. Pen on paper, and prefer it that way, though it sometimes results in some over-inked answers. I try to minimize those by checking crosses and writing small and lightly over iffy areas.

    Took much more time to finish today than I like, but found it clever, interesting, and fun.

13. I got the theme, it was the regular clues that got me. Seamy…may be from the 1600s but I’ve never heard it used that way. sigh.

    I do the puzzle with pencil and a very large eraser. Comes out in the Sacramento Bee tho not on the day it appears in the NYT.

14. I really liked this theme! I agree with the paper lovers — like to read real newspapers, and to do the puzzles in them (tho I’m not nearly as daring as those who use a pen — pencil [and eraser!] and paper is more my speed).

    Welcome, Duncan.

15. Pen and ink, one from a subscription paper, two others printed out. Dont care about time as I do other things as well, such as answering emails, making a latte, etc. I can also move around more easily with paper. Don’t need clues or red letters. To each their own.

16. I also prefer pen-and-paper solves and I do almost all my crossword puzzles that way, but I invested a huge amount of time in learning to use the NYT crossword app and there are a few things about it that I do like. I even like one thing about the “almost there” message that I complain about so often: When I fill in the final square and I get that message, it tells me only that I have at least one error somewhere, but it does not tell me where it is (or, perhaps, where they are). At that point, I acknowledge the error and go on the hunt for it. If the error is a “real” one (as opposed to a typo), that can be a valuable learning experience. If you solve on paper, you can simulate this only by having someone else check your answers.

    1. Dave, some friendly questions:

       So when you get to the final square, you fill it in, and only then do you get the “almost there” message, doesn’t that tell you that your error is very likely, if not necessarily, in that final square? Having someone else check your answers to simulate a digital check is to place a lot of confidence in them, isn’t it? And isn’t a typo a “real” error if you’ve left it that way, assuming you’ve taken any time to look over your presumably finished puzzle?

       These may be off-base nit-picks, but we seem to have reached a point in this continuing thread where questions like this can still be asked.

       1. Tom,

          What I try to do (and what I’m suggesting that Allen could do) is to keep empty a square whose contents I’m sure of and fill it in last, thereby essentially declaring that I’m done. If, at that point, I get the “almost there” message, I could do as Allen does: record the time, check my answers against the answer key (finding out, in the process, exactly where and what the errors are), and report them also. What I choose to do instead, since the clock is continuing to run, is to find the errors (wherever they may be), fix them (thereby finally stopping the clock), and then report that time, followed by a count of the errors that I fixed. Allen seems to feel that his way is somehow more honorable, but I feel that my way is equally honorable, if not more so, and I learn more. In any case, all I try to do is to report what I did; others may interpret it as they like.

          It’s important to understand, as I’ve said before, that I’m working on an iPad mini. As Allen mentioned above, getting to the first square in which you want to enter a character, setting the direction of fill to “across” or “down”, and then actually typing the chacters using one finger on a virtual version of a QWERTY keyboard is slower than doing it on paper; it’s also more error-prone (especially when you don’t notice that the fill direction didn’t get set properly, so that the characters you subsequently type go somewhere other than you intended). I try to check for errors as I go along, but this is harder than it would be on paper, because it’s harder to locate the clues for crossing entries, and I need two sets of eyes – one set to watch the finger doing the typing and another to watch the results in the grid.

          I distinguish between “real” errors (things that I intended to enter that went where I meant them to) from “typos” (that result from the clumsiness of the process). I do this because I would like to be judged on my crossword skills rather than my typing skills. I do a lot of puzzles on paper that are a lot harder than the NYT puzzles, with essentially no “typos”: seventy years of practice makes my pen do what I tell it to do on the paper (most of the time 😜).

          All of which makes me wonder why I bother with online solving, but it does have some advantages (and I am still, however slowly, getting better at it).

17. 25 minutes, a couple stumbles that cleared up when I got the theme. I get the paper delivered (as I’ve noted I’m a low tech guy), and do ‘em in blue ink. They can be messy later in the week (which is why I’m not a fan of circled boxes)😏. I think it was Dave who mentioned doing them with different colored pens, which I could see as helpful. But then I’d have to change me ways😜

18. 11 minutes, no errors. One of the times I wished I had a real stop watch to compare instead of the clock by my easy chair. But to be that close to Bill with my NYT syndicated paper solve here makes me want to see how I would have done with this on an online solve (since I find they’re faster than paper solves). Which I think answers the other question going on the thread, with respect to the NYT. I online solve other puzzles, but NYT has been all paper for me.

19. We do them in paper and invisible ink. So there, you snobs! 😉

20. The Pilot Frixion erasable pens work very well for me.

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